March 2015

Exhibitions

This summer, Jason Rogenes will transform the Precourt Discovery Hall into an immersive sculptural environment where families can play with custom cast “asteroids” to create otherworldly soundscapes. Part of a rich summer program focusing on sculpture, the installation—made out of cardboard and reclaimed Styrofoam—will encourage visitors to reconsider familiar and typically discarded materials for their artmaking possibilities.

A completely new exhibition in the textile art galleries features more than 20 quilts arranged in nine thematic groupings. Each section invites viewers to look closely at the different themes and variations. Visitors can discover common roots for motifs and patterns and creative differences in materials and techniques. More than half of the objects are recent acquisitions on view for the first time, while others, including The Matterhorn quilt (pictured below), are well-known treasures of the collection.

William Matthews: Trespassing presents selected works from his early career to his most recent paintings. Matthews began working as a graphic designer, but dedicated himself to watercolor painting in 1990. The 27 artworks on view exemplify his expertise and sophisticated understanding of watercolor technique. His main focus has been subjects found in the American West: working cowboys, ranches, rural architecture, and the landscape.

Joan Miró: Instinct & Imagination focuses on artworks the Spanish artist created during the last two decades of his career (1963-1981). Joan Miró's (pronounced Jwan mr-OH) imagination and creativity extended well into his old age. Later in life, he continued the inventive forms for which he is known and began exploring new materials, including bronze. This exhibition features bronze sculptures–including Woman and Bird (Femme et oiseau) (in slide show below)–which have rarely been seen outside of Europe.

Rupprecht Matthies’ ¿Being Home? is a community-inspired, interactive artwork that grows with each installation. In 2009 and 2011, Matthies collaborated with immigrants at Denver-area community organizations, including the African Community Center, the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, and Centro San Juan Diego, to gather words evocative of notions of home. The resulting words—transformed into mobiles, pillows, and wall pieces—are in 13 languages including English, Spanish, Arabic, and Kareni.

Sovereign: Independent Voices highlights the work of three leading American Indian contemporary artists, Kent Monkman, Rose Simpson, and Virgil Ortiz, who have received international acclaim. These artists challenge people to think more broadly about the place of native artists in the contemporary art world through a fusion of historic techniques with contemporary styles and ideas. The included works reflect meditations on the self and native histories in a variety of media, including painting, sculptural ceramics, and multimedia works.

Barbara Bosworth’s photography explores nature and memory through calm reflection upon places that hold deep personal and social meaning. Using a large format 8x10 camera, Bosworth makes exquisite prints that immerse the viewer in the scene and imbue details—fleeting effects of light and subtle traces of human or natural activity—with arresting presence.

The 30 artworks in this exhibition reveal the versatility of lacquer as a medium used by Japanese artists to create containers, trays, plaques, braziers, and screens. A wide range of techniques are represented to demonstrate how lacquer was used during the last century to create objects of enduring beauty. The selected artworks reflect the changing styles and tastes of successive generations of lacquer artists who produced designs based on plants, animals, and other elements of nature.

Depth and Detail: Carved Bamboo from China, Japan, and Korea showcases a variety of carved, cut, incised, and etched bamboo objects. The exhibition demonstrates how artists used bamboo, carving deeply through it to achieve different colors and textures. The intricate decoration of the items on view includes religious imagery as well as people, animals, birds, insects, plants, and landscapes that tell stories or have symbolic meaning.

Experience one of the world's premier collections of Native American art. Reopened on January 30, 2011, our remodeled galleries of American Indian and Northwest Coast art focus on artists and their creations, revealing the hand and eye of each individual artist.

Nampeyo: Excellence by Name is on view in the American Indian art galleries. Nampeyo is recognized as one of the greatest ceramicists of the 20th century. This exhibition traces the full spectrum of the famed Hopi artist’s career, highlighting key elements of her innovative forms and designs and the work of successive generations of her family.

Cubism was the most revolutionary and influential movement of the twentieth century. After Renaissance artists perfected the device of perspective, a painting was thought of as a window into the world. But cubist painters understood that canvases themselves were painted objects. They also rejected the idea that an object rendered with traditional perspective was any more “real” than an abstraction of that object on the flat surface.

Following nearly one year of conservation treatment, an Italian masterwork discovered in the Denver Art Museum storage is on view. Since spring 2012, we have been writing updates about behind-the-scenes discoveries and decisions related to the restoration.

During the Spanish Colonial period in Latin America (1521–1850), precious gold and silver were crafted into elegant jewelry then embellished with emeralds from Colombia, coral from Mexico, and pearls from Venezuela. Wanting to demonstrate their wealth and status, people were painted wearing their finest dress and elaborate jewelry.

This reinstallation of the Joan & George Anderman Gallery of Oceanic Art offers a glimpse at the variety of creative design and ingenious construction possible through the unique medium of bark cloth (or tapa) used across the Pacific. Techniques and styles for decorating varied from island group to island group. Painted, printed, and beaten patterns decorate supple and sometimes expansive bark cloths. Elaborate masks made with tapa stretch over rigid stick or cane frames.

Tours

Think outside the box and experience the unique architecture of the museum’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building, designed by Daniel Libeskind. Take a trip through Boettcher Canyon Walk, scout out the Bartlit Sculpture Deck, sight-see from Duncan Pavilion, and more.

Meet in the first level elevator lobby of the Hamilton Building.

Note: The daily Architecture Tour will be discontinued as of May 1, 2015.

Expert docents introduce you to a selection of the museum’s most noteworthy objects. Visit both the North and Hamilton buildings and discover a diversity of artworks from across time and around the world.

Special Events

Throughout March, Denver Art Museum members will receive 15 percent off the entire stock of books. Art and design books, including exhibition catalogs and Denver Art Museum Companion Guides, can be found in The Shop in the Hamilton Building, level 1.

Books for children are located in The Shop in the North Building, level 1.

Spark your imagination in our hands-on Studio space inspired by the art of Joan Miró. Visitors can build free-form sculptures, get creative with words, experiment with painting and drawing techniques, and explore a variety of activities designed to jumpstart creativity.

Fun for all ages with no experience necessary, the Studio will be open March 29-June 28.

To celebrate a summer filled with flower-related programs, the Denver Art Museum is seeking local creatives to participate in this year’s Plaza installation. The DAM is looking for creatives who use flowers as either material, or subject matter, in a community open call.

From swirling masquerade regalia to pounded nails that keep a promise, African Art has work to do. While exploring the museum’s African Collection, discover the job of many mysterious objects and find inspiration for your own creations.

Line, shading and gesture are just fancy words for squiggle, smudge, and splat! Travel all over the museum, read stories, play looking games, mash and mold clay, clip and paste collage, drip and stamp paint while creating wearable art and more.

Get in the minds of three superstar architects! Construct with angles like Daniel Libeskind, create tile mosaics like Gio Ponti, and build with blocks like Michael Graves. Visit great downtown buildings and get inspired to design your own using trace paper, computers, and more.

Create art using everyday objects you would normally throw away. Make beautiful art projects using clothespins or old cans. Got an old shoe box? Turn it into a desk organizer. Create ornaments and decorations using junk. Keep the trash can empty and fill it with amazing treasures.

What if feelings had colors and colors had feelings? Take a wild ride through color and expression in this class full of fun. We will paint, collage, and create while listening to music and moving to the happy beat.

Get to know the animals in the DAM’s collection. The animals here have very special meanings for the people that made them. Some say there is even an animal that will protect and guide you your whole life. Find your power animal and make art that shows off your new friend!

Kids and their grown-ups will take on creative challenges, tell stories, and meet new friends - all while discovering the wonders of the Denver Art Museum TOGETHER. Reignite your imagination and explore creating alongside your child in this engaging and playful class. We are excited to embark on this journey with you both!

*Please note that one adult family member must attend with each child.*

In this stop-motion animation class we will be exploring... environment! From nature, the city or even the museum, learn to construct basic stop-motion animations and Claymation drawing inspiration from around you. We will post your creations to YouTube and host a cinema premiere. Please bring a digital camera, Blank SD card and a thumbdrive to take your films home on.

Finding inspiration from the array of horse iconography, imagery and sculptures in the DAM galleries, we will create a fully operational marionette horse, from wood, paint, rope and much more. These horses will be given a name and a story. We will prance through the museum on a horse parade at the end of the week. To accompany our horses, we will produce unique saddle blankets, watercolor horse portraits and a pasture scene.

From American Indian, to Western, to Contemporary galleries and beyond, explore the influence of the West in art. Uncover ideas behind art from the West, what it means to you to live in the current day Western US and define your own sense of Western. To create several unique works you will select from wood, acrylic paint, watercolor, papier mache, and more.

What would it be like to grow up in an 18th-century Japanese castle? Follow the adventures of four young lords and ladies, design settings for seashells, embellish a samurai sword, and play the games kids played back then.

Prowl the museum galleries to create an entire production inspired by the artwork. Together we will write, design, and act in a play to be performed in the art museum during the monthly Adult and College program, Untitled!

What IS modern art? Where and how do modern artists develop their inspiration? Dive into the DAM's Modern Art Collection and discover the magic behind modern art through painting, drawing, sculpting, and other unexpected mediums!

Explore the museum collections with your artist's eye, and develop your own signature style of seeing and creating art. Students will use sketchbooks, learn the method behind various drawing and sketching techniques, and see where their doodles take them.

Your mission should you choose to accept it, will be to re-design an everyday object and make it better. Got a chair at home that just doesn’t feel right? A teapot that spills instead of pours? Pick up design skills like observation, brainstorming, prototyping, and testing and be on your way to designing a better world!

Become a creative explorer on a quest for hidden treasure. Each day will be a different adventure as we sing, create, and move our way around the museum, unlocking mysteries with our favorite DAM family programs monkey, Seymour.

Grab your magnifying glass and become an art detective at the museum! Discover line, shape, space and texture in artworks as you journey through the collections. Campers will create treasure maps and solve an art mystery while learning the elements of art.

We are going to camp at the museum! Imagine sleeping under skies of many different paintings. We will make s’mores, fire flies, and campfires (not real ones, of course!) while learning about and creating abstract art.